According to data from ONEI, as of December 31, 2023, 1,249,733 Cubans were outside the country
14ymedio, Madrid, July 19, 2024 — The Cuban Government acknowledged this Friday that the country has fewer than 10 million inhabitants and that the population continues to decrease. The latest data recorded by the National Bureau of Statistics and Information (ONEI), as presented in the session that took place in the National Assembly after the draft Migration Law was presented, are from 2023 and slightly exceed that figure: 10,055,968.
However, the deputy head of the organization, Juan Carlos Alfonso Fraga, explained to Parliament that “given the demographic dynamics recorded in the first months of 2024, the contraction of the number of births and the continuity of the movement of people abroad since the last months of 2023, the current population of Cuba is fewer than 10 million inhabitants and will continue to decrease.”
Similarly, the official admitted the migratory exodus, saying that “in the last three years, the mobility of the Cuban population abroad has intensified, with prolonged stays outside.”
The latter, Alfonso Fraga continued, is not reflected in the calculation of the resident population, “since an important part of that population is not defined as migrant.” According to current legislation, the “migrant” definition comes after two years of permanence abroad are completed. This definition was suspended and has been successively extended since 2020, due to the Covid pandemic.
“In the last three years, the mobility of the Cuban population abroad has intensified, with pro
